Professional Soccer Is Coming To Brooklyn With Big Goals Ahead Of 2026 FIFA World Cup
Daniele Proch
Contributor

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 21: A view of the Williamsburg Bridge and the borough of Brooklyn behind ... [+]GETTY IMAGES
Brooklyn will have its own professional soccer team starting in 2025, a spokesperson from the United Soccer League confirmed in our most recent interview.

The newly-born franchise, which is controlled by New York-based family office North Sixth Group, will begin competing in the USL League One, the nation’s third-tier of soccer, with the league’s official announcement expected in the upcoming weeks.

“This has been my baby for the last two years, I haven't told anybody about it,” NSG’s CEO Matt Rizzetta told me in an exclusive conversation.

“The vision is to bring world-class professional soccer to Brooklyn and to really turn Brooklyn into an international destination for soccer ahead of the 2026 World Cup.”

While Rizzetta didn’t disclose the exact amount of the investment, he said that NSG “got great value” for a franchise in Brooklyn after a monthslong negotiation.

In 2025, the Brooklyn franchise will make its debut in the USL League One, the third-tier of the North American soccer pyramid. By 2028, the team might exercise the option to enroll in the USL Championship, the highest division of the USL and one level beneath Major League Soccer, as long as certain benchmarks, such as relocating to a more spacious stadium, are met.

(For context, the expansion fees to join the USL Championship and USL League One respectively sell for $20 million and $5 million.)